How to kickstart your PR by using images, infographics and wordclouds
Charlotte Stephen - 20 June 2018
You’ve probably heard the expression that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in fact this is never truer than in the world of PR and marketing. If you think about successful newspapers, magazines and websites you’ll realise that they are actually very image led. They often use attention grabbing images to gain consumer attention quickly and effectively before they have even had time to read the headline or article content. Many marketers are also finding that social media is becoming increasingly image based with photographic platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat gaining in popularity year on year.
There is actually a rational explanation for this focus on images (the science part!) because 90% of the information that is received by the brain is visual. Images and pictures are also processed at approximately 60,000 times the speed that we process written content. Another reason that images are so popular is that consumers exist in a time limited market place where they want to receive lots of information – but they want to get it fast. When they are scrolling through their newsfeeds they are faced with a wealth of data and text and a great image or eye-catching infographic can be the key to capturing their attention and helping a business to stand out from the crowd.
When you understand the power of visual information you can see why incorporating images, infographics and wordclouds into your marketing materials can really help your business to get your message across and kickstart a fantastic PR campaign. Of course it’s really important to get your images right to ensure that they have maximum impact and work holistically with your product and campaign. To help you out we’ve taken a look at some of the key things you need to consider when producing the visual elements of your PR campaign.
Create professional images which embody your brand vision
When you begin to plan your PR campaign it’s important to think about the images that you will use and to ensure that they fit in with your brand vision. Your images will be the first things that a potential customer sees so you must make sure they give the right impression.
If your business is in a more conservative industry you may want to consider using formal images such as posed shots of your team and products. However if you are in a more creative industry then you may want something with a touch of humour or a more casual feel. You should think carefully about your target demographic and the images and pictures that they will respond to. Whilst you want to create something eye-catching that gets your company talked about it is usually wise to steer clear of any shocking or controversial pictures which could bring negative publicity to your brand.
Pictures for PR campaigns are often aspirational and can help to bring your product or service to life. It’s not just about showing off your product, it’s about letting the consumer see what value the product could add to their lives. Instead of static product shots of nursery furniture for example you could include your furniture in an image of a contented mother reading to her child. Another example might be a restaurant showing shots of people laughing and enjoying themselves over one of their meals rather than simply providing pictures of their food.
Whilst it’s easy nowadays to take high impact images on your smartphone it can really pay off to get some professional shots done for your PR campaign. A blurred or grainy image could look amateur and unprofessional and good quality photos can show off your products to their best effects. An experienced photographer will be able to make helpful ideas and suggestions too.
Use high impact infographics to share data in an easy to understand format
An infographic is a pictorial representation of facts and figures and they are becoming increasingly popular on blogs and social media. Infographics are a great PR tool as not only do they get your message across to the public effectively, we have also found that journalists and online influencers love them too. The key to their success is that instead of having to read through pages of content to pick out the key data they can simply take a look at your infographic. Therefore journalists, PR contacts and consumers can quickly understand what you are trying to say and take on board the salient facts about your product or service.
Infographics are the perfect PR tool for the social media age as they can be easily shared on all social media channels. They are also a great way to reach out to online influencers as they can be placed on blogs and websites too.
Because infographics are data based they can be the ideal way for you to show off your expertise in your industry. It’s important to gain your customers’ trust and also to add value to your product and service. An infographic can be used to let people know about your high levels of knowledge within your profession.
One of the great things about infographics is that you don’t need to be a professional designer to create them. You can design infographics easily online via a number of infographic design sites which are often free to use too. However you may want to factor in the cost of a designer to your PR campaign if you want a truly personalised infographic which has maximum impact.
Wordclouds help to show your customers what your business can offer them
Wordclouds can be used as a visual representation of the importance of a particular aspect of your business or service. The more weight a word has in a piece of content or a blog post the larger it is shown in the word cloud image. It’s a high impact way of showing potential customers what you do and it also allows them to understand the main elements of any article or content that you have written on your website.
Wordclouds pull together the key aspects of what you can offer your customers so they are the ideal images to head up a PR campaign and they can be shared on social media and your website too. You could even encourage customers to help you create a wordcloud by asking them for the words that best sum up their experience with your business. This is a great way to get buy-in from your target demographic and means that potential customers can clearly see the positive testimonials and feedback that you have received.
Images really are a vital tool in your PR kit and should form a key element of any successful PR campaign. Visual images and symbols reach the consumer’s brain far quicker than any text and are therefore often the first impression that people will take on of your brand so you need to make them count. Explore which images will work best for your customer demographic and ensure that they are impactful, aspirational and professional. Use infographics as a quick way to highlight your area of expertise and share knowledge with key online influencers and journalists. Finally wordclouds are a quick and simple way to help people understand the different elements of your business and what you can do for them. For help and support with kickstarting your PR campaign why not get in touch with the WagadaHQ team. We can offer advice on how to integrate images into your PR to help you get the best from your brand.
